The number of foreign languages spoken in Germany is rising, and as a result German is increasingly being learned as a second language (L2). This is a challenge for many secondary-school students, especially those who have learning disabilities (LD) and behavioral difficulties, which are often accompanied by reduced motivation to learn, in this…

This study investigates consistent and inconsistent respondents to mixed-worded questionnaire scales in large-scale assessments. Mixed-worded scales contain both positively and negatively worded items and are universally applied in different survey and content areas. Due to the changing wording, these scales require a more careful reading and…

Research on learning from errors gives reason to assume that errors provide a high potential to facilitate deep learning if students are willing and able to take these learning opportunities. The first aim of this study was to analyse whether beliefs about errors as learning opportunities can be theoretically and empirically distinguished from…

In this study, the effectiveness of a life skills program to impede tobacco use in early adolescence was scrutinized. The focus was on the mediating role of yielding to peer pressure. The universal school-based life skills program IPSY (Information + Psychosocial Competence = Protection) against adolescent substance use was implemented over 3…

This study investigates the capacity of children to develop map-based skills in spatial orientation in an urban environment unknown to them. In this quantitative study, a total of 328 pupils of grades 3-5 had to achieve specific skills with regard to map-based skills in spatial orientation (such as turning-off skills, transformation from map to…

Until now, many efforts in the area of environmental education, intended to instill consciously responsible behaviour into the general public in Germany, have failed. Several of the available intervention studies aimed at improving environmental behaviour of pupils with classroom tuition were able to show positive results, but there were often…

This study tested whether the gender intensification hypothesis applies to relations between multiple domain-specific self-concept facets and self-esteem. This hypothesis predicts gender-stereotypic differences in these relations and assumes they intensify with age. Furthermore, knowledge about gender-related or age-related differences in…

The alarming results of large studies such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP; National Center for Education Statistics, 2012) point to an urgent need for writing support and call for specific and effective methods to foster writing competencies. The main purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative peer-assisted…

In line with previous studies, where outdoor nature experience was shown to support adolescents' environmental knowledge, our study monitored the influence of a hands-on environmental programme within a National Park on cognitive knowledge achievement. A sample of 4th and 5th graders (n = 289) completed a week-long outreach conservation programme…

The observation of living animals in school laboratories provides authentic views of biological research. Various studies stress the importance of primary experiences in biology classes. However, educational films may serve as an alternative in some cases. The aim of this study was to investigate student motivation before and after treatments,…

Coping research has consistently shown that accommodative coping is positively correlated with individuals' health. Until now, however, there have been little to no studies on the prognostic impact of accommodative coping on health, and only a few studies investigating its buffering effect on the relation between stress and health in childhood and…

School motivation and attachment typically decline after the transition to middle school. According to the stage-environment fit approach, extracurricular activities are supposed to promote motivation. However, research has shown that the effects depend on the quality of the activities, which usually is measured by assessing students' individual…

Recent handbooks of giftedness or expertise propose a plethora of conceptions on the development of excellent performance but, to our knowledge, there are no comparative studies that provide empirical evidence of their validity to guide researchers and practitioners in their adoption of a particular conception. This study sought to close that gap…

This study aims to develop a short German version of the Self Description Questionnaire (SDQ I-GS) in order to present a robust economical instrument for measuring German preadolescents' multidimensional self-concept. A full German version of the SDQ I (SDQ I-G) that maintained the original structure and thus length of the English original SDQ I…

This study investigated adolescents' developmental trajectories of mathematics interest and explored related effects of gender, family, and school context. Latent growth curve modeling was used to analyze longitudinal data of N = 3,193 students (51% female) from grades 5 to 9 from all 3 ability tracks of the German state school system. Annual…